Apart from the shocking revelations, this is also a startling human document.
After publication – and in spite of it – the unit to which the man belongs received from the armycommand an official citation for outstanding service.
“I entered Jenin, driven by madness, by desperation, in the worstcondition possible”.
“I told my wife: “If anything happens to me, at least someone will take careof you”.
“The funny bit was, I didn’t even know how to operate the D-9.”
“Within two hours, they taught me to drive forwards, and make a flatsurface.”
“I tied the ‘Beitar’ football team flag to the back of the bulldozer and toldthem: “Move away, let me work.”.
“For three days, I just erased and erased”
“I kept drinking whisky to fight off fatigue”
“I didn’t see dead bodies under the blade of the D-9, but I don’t care if therewhere any.”
Moshe Nissim, nicknamed “Kurdi Bear (1) ” , the D-9 operator who became the terror of the Jeninrefugee camp inhabitants, speaks with no censorship about his time of glory.
“I entered Jenin driven by madness, by desperation, I felt I have nothing to loose, That even ifI ‘get it’, no big deal.
I told my wife: “If anything happens to me, at least someone will take care of you!”.
I started my reserve service, in the worst conditions possible. Maybe this is why I didn’t givea damn. Not about explosive charges, not about gun fire.
“My life was in deep shit for the past one and a half years. For almost half a year I am suspendedfrom work as a senior inspector in the Jerusalem municipality.
I worked there for 17 years, till that cursed day, January the 20 th , exactly my 40 th birthday,when the police came and arrested me.
They said that I and my colleagues in the inspection unit are suspected for being bribed bycontractors and other business owners, that in fact, we are a corrupted bunch.
“This is a terrible injustice. I am a very friendly guy, and in this job you mix with people youinspect. But bribery? Me?
I am in debt for hundreds of thousands of Shekels long before all this story. Had I taken bribes,I would have money, but I couldn’t even pay the lawyer. Since then I am suspended. My wife wasfired as well, and I have four children to keep.
“This was not the first blow. A few months earlier, I was injured badly in my back, my wife wasfired, and my son got run over and had to be operated to save his leg.
Today he is OK, but his big dream, and mine, that he will once be a player in the Beitar Jerusalemteam, this dream is probably gone forever. Pity. He was really talented. I have alreadypromised him to get him into the children’s Beitar team.
“For two years, it is just one blow after another. I haven’t got a cent, but I love people. Icannot be indifferent. Every holiday, I distribute food packages for the needy. The same atPassover. I ran around like crazy. And just then, I started getting phone calls from the guys:”Kurdi”, they said, “we are all being recruited to do reserve service, but you are not called.”
“Truth is, that I understood my commanders. Hey, I’ve been doing my reserves duty for 16 yearsnow, and I was useless. I did nothing but make trouble.
“During my obligatory Military service (2) I was constantly sentenced to prison, because Irefused to be a vehicle electrician. In my unit as well, in the bulldozer unit, I was supposed tobe an electrician, but actually, I did nothing, just messed around. I would come to the unit,and immediately open a card table, open a bottle. If any officer would dare send me to guardduty, I would send him first. Kurdi always did his thing.
If I felt like going to a Beitar football match, or going home, no one could stop me. I would juststart the car and go.
“Truth is, they didn’t even know me. When I am given responsibility, I can act differently, Inthe “Versailles” disaster (3) I was in charge of all the inspection team on location. When I wasseen by one of the guys of my military unit, he was shocked.
He said: “In the army you can’t tie your shoelaces, and here you are a big chief!”
The truth is that when I finally decide to do something, I am one stubborn guy. I will go for ittill the end. This time was one of those moments. What haven ‘ t I done for them to take me? I sentthe guys to twist the battalion commander’s arm, I phoned the company commander, I drove themmad. “I promise to work”, I pleaded with the battalion commander. Finally, he agreed to give mea chance.
“I said to myself: “Kurdi, you can’t let them down. No more running wild!”.
The speaker is Moshe Nissim, AKA “Moshe Nissim Beitar Jerusalem”.
In the Jenin refugee camp, he was called, over the military radio: “Kurdi Bear”.
Kurdi, because this is the name he insisted on. Bear, after the D-9 he was driving, demolishinghouse after house.
There was not one soldier in Jenin that did not hear this name. Kurdi Bear was considered themost devoted, brave and probably the most destructive operator.
A man, that the Jenin camp inquiry committee, would want very much to have a word with.
For 75 hours, with no break, he sat on the huge bulldozer, charges exploding around him, anderased house after house.
His story, which he tells openly and with no inhibitions, is far from being a regular war myth.Medals, so it seems, will not be awarded for it. (Actually, his company was later awarded acitation for outstanding service.)
The experience
“The funny bit is, I didn’t even know how to operate the D-9. I have never been an operator. But Ibegged them to give me a chance to learn.
Before we went into Shekhem (Nablus), I asked some of the guys to teach me. They sat with me fortwo hours. They taught me how to drive forwards and make a flat surface.
“I took it on with no problem and told them: ‘That’s it. Move aside and let me work.’.
This is what happened in Jenin as well. I have never demolished a house before, or even a wall. Igot into the D-9 with a friend of mine, a Yemenite. I let him work for an hour, and then told him,’OK. I got the idea.’
“But the real thing started the day 13 of our soldiers were killed up that alley in the Jeninrefugee camp.
“When they brought us in, I knew that nobody wanted to work with me. They were afraid to be with meon the bulldozer. Not only did I have a reputation of a troublemaker, but also of a man who knowsno fear, and they were right about that. I really have no fear. They knew I had no fear, that Idon’t give a damn, and that I can go anywhere, without asking questions, without an escort oftanks or APC’s or anything. Once, in Jenin, I left the tank that escorted us everywhere. Iwanted to have a spin around the camp, see what’s going on. Gadi, the other operator who was withme, nearly fainted. He started going mad: ‘Get back,’ he shouted, ‘we have no escort!’, but Ihad to get to know the place better, to find an exit, just in case we needed one. I was not afraid todie. At least I was insured. This would have helped my family.
The Flag
“When we got into the camp, the D-9’s were already waiting. They where hauled from Shekhem(Nablus). I got the big D-9 L, me and the Yemenite, my partner. First thing I did was to tie theBeitar team flag. I had it prepared in advance. I wanted the family to be able to identify me. Itold the family and the kids: ‘you will see my bulldozer on television. When you see the Beitarflag, that will be me’. And this is exactly what happened.
“I know it sounds crazy, but for me, to hang this flag was completely natural. Like eating.Here, look at this Beitar pendant around my neck. It never comes off. Not off me, and not off thekids. I carry the Beitar flags everywhere I go. Look at my car, all covered with these flags.This is the way I am. I always go to the Beitar matches, in a Beitar colored Galabia (an Arab man’sdress), and a big drum of the Kurds from the C. Once, after our first national championship, Itook a ride on the roof of a car, carrying the drum, all the way to Jerusalem.
“Beitar is a kink in my brain. There is no other way to explain it. After my family, it is the mostimportant thing in my life, and the only thing that can kill me. In Jenin, I was not scared for amoment, but I cannot go to the Beitar matches for half a year now. The suspense kills me, and I amconstantly afraid of getting a heart attack. Sometimes, I can walk around ‘Teddy’ (the mainJerusalem stadium) with a ticket in my hand, and I can’t go in. In one match, in Beit Shean, Ifainted after they scored a goal. I know how this sounds, but that’s the way it is. Incurable. Athome, they know better than to talk to me if Beitar lost a match.
“So now you understand why the Beitar flag was on the bulldozer in Jenin. Someone told me that mycommander wanted to take it off. But no way. If I had a say in the matter, there would be a Beitarflag on the top of the mosque in the camp. I tried convincing the Golani (an infantry brigade ofthe Israeli army) officer I worked with to let me go up there and hang it, but he refused. He said Iwould be shot if I tried. Pity.
“The flag was the most outstanding object in the camp. Reservists who went home on short leavecame back with Beitar flags, just to imitate me. It made a lot of noise, my flag. The Golanisoldiers were stunned. ‘You brought Beitar here,’ they told me. And I said: ‘I am going to make aTeddy stadium here. Don’t you worry.’.
“On the radio, they wanted to call me ‘Moshe-Bear’, but I insisted on Kurdi. I told the Golanis,I am Kurdi, and I won’t answer if you call me by any other name.’ That is how ‘Kurdi Bear’ was born.This is my name, and I am stubborn.
“In the reserves, they already got used to my signature: ‘Moshe Nissim Beitar Jerusalem’.Fora while they asked me to stop it, but finally they just gave up.
Going in
“The moment I drove the bulldozer into the camp, something switched in my head. I went mad. Allthe desperation, caused by my personal condition, just vanished at once. All that remainedwas the anger over what had happened to our guys. Till now I am convinced, and so are the rest ofus, that if we were let into the camp earlier, with all our might, twenty-four soldiers wouldnot have been killed in this camp.
“The moment I went into the camp, for the first time, I just thought of how to help thesesoldiers. These fighters. Children the age of my son. I couldn’t grasp how they worked there,were a charge blows up on you, with every step you take.
“With the first mission I was given, to open a track inside the camp, I understood what kind ofhell this was.
“My first mission, voluntarily, was to bring the soldiers food. I was told: ‘The only way to getfood in there, is with the D-9’. They haven’t eaten in two days. You couldn’t poke your nose out.I filled the bulldozer till the roof, and drove the bulldozer right up to the door of their post,so that they would not have to take even one step outside their shelter. One step was enough inorder to lose an arm or a leg.
“You could not tell where the charges were. They (the Palestinian fighters) dug holes in theground and planted charges. You would just start driving, and you would hit a 3” pipe, welded onboth ends. As you touch them, they go off. Everything was booby trapped. Even the walls ofhouses. Just touch them, and they blow up. Or, they would shoot you the moment you entered.There were charges in the roads, under the floor, between the walls. As you make an opening,something goes off. I saw a bird cage blow up in some pet shop, where we opened a track. A flyingbirdcage. I felt sorry for the birds. They just planted charges everywhere.
“For me, in the D-9, it was nothing. I didn’t mind. You would just hear the explosions.
Even 80 Kilos of explosives only rattled the bulldozer’s blade. It weighs three and a half tons(4) . It’s a monster. A tank can get hit in the belly. It’s belly is sensitive. With the D-9, youshould only look out for RPG’s or 50 Kilos of explosives on the roof. But I didn’t think about itthen. The only thing that mattered was that these soldiers must not risk themselves just to eator drink something.”
“I fell in love with those children. I was willing to do with my bulldozer anything they wouldask for. I begged for work: ‘Let me finish another house, open another track.’
They, in return, protected me. I would leave the bulldozer without weapons, nothing. Justwalked in. They told me I am mad, but I said: ‘Leave me alone. Anyhow, the armored vest will notsave me.’ This is how I worked. Even without a shirt. Half naked.
“Do you know how I held out for 75 hours? I didn’t get off the bulldozer. I had no problem offatigue, because I drank whisky all the time. I had a bottle in the bulldozer at all times. I hadput them in my bag in advance. Everybody else took clothes, but I knew what was waiting for methere, so I took whisky and something to munch on.
“Clothes? Didn’t need any. A towel was enough. Anyhow I could not leave the bulldozer. You openthe door, and get a bullet. For 75 hours I didn’t think about my life at home, about all theproblems. Everything was erased. Sometimes images of terror attacks in Jerusalem crossed mymind. I witnessed some of them.”
The purity of our weapons
“What is ‘opening a track’? You erase buildings. On both sides. There is no other choice,because the bulldozer was much wider than their alleys. But I am not looking for excuses oranything. You must ‘shave’ them. I didn’t give a damn about demolishing their houses, becauseit saved the lives of our soldiers. I worked where our soldiers were slaughtered. They didn’ttell all the truth about what happened. they drilled holes in the walls, holes for gun barrels.Anyone who escaped the charges, was shot through these holes.
“I had no mercy for anybody. I would erase anyone with the D-9, just so that our soldiers won’texpose themselves to danger. That’s what I told them. I was afraid for our soldiers. You couldsee them sleeping together, 40 soldiers in a house, all crowded. My heart went out for them.This is why I didn’t give a damn about demolishing all the houses I’ve demolished – and I havedemolished plenty. By the end, I built the ‘Teddy’ football stadium there.
“Difficult? No way. You must be kidding. I wanted to destroy everything. I begged theofficers, over the radio, to let me knock it all down; from top to bottom. To level everything.It’s not as if I wanted to kill. Just the houses. We didn’t harm those who came out of the houses wehad started to demolish, waving white flags. We screwed just those who wanted to fight.
“No one refused an order to knock down a house. No such thing. When I was told to bring down ahouse, I took the opportunity to bring down some more houses; not because I wanted to – butbecause when you are asked to demolish a house, some other houses usually obscure it, so thereis no other way. I would have to do it even if I didn’t want to. They just stood in the way. If I had toerase a house, come hell or high water – I would do it. And believe me, we demolished too little.The whole camp was littered with detonation charges. What actually saved the lives of thePalestinians themselves, because if they had returned to their homes, they would blow up.
“For three days, I just destroyed and destroyed. The whole area. Any house that they fired fromcame down. And to knock it down, I tore down some more. They were warned by loudspeaker to get outof the house before I come, but I gave no one a chance. I didn’t wait. I didn’t give one blow, andwait for them to come out. I would just ram the house with full power, to bring it down as fast aspossible. I wanted to get to the other houses. To get as many as possible. Others may haverestrained themselves, or so they say. Who are they kidding? Anyone who was there, and saw oursoldiers in the houses, would understand they were in a death trap. I thought about savingthem. I didn’t give a damn about the Palestinians, but I didn’t just ruin with no reason. It wasall under orders.
“Many people where inside houses we stto demolish. They would come out of the houses we whereworking on. I didn’t see, with my own eyes, people dying under the blade of the D-9. and I didn’tsee house falling down on live people. But if there were any, I wouldn’t care at all. I am surepeople died inside these houses, but it was difficult to see, there was lots of dusteverywhere, and we worked a lot at night. I found joy with every house that came down, because Iknew they didn’t mind dying, but they cared for their homes. If you knocked down a house, youburied 40 or 50 people for generations. If I am sorry for anything, it is for not tearing thewhole camp down.
Satisfaction
“I didn’t stop for a moment. Even when we had a two-hour break, I insisted on going on. I prepareda ramp, to destroy a four-story building. Once I steered sharply to the right, and a whole wallcame down. Suddenly I heard shouting on the radio: ‘Kurdi, watch it! It is us!’ Turns out therewhere our guys inside, and they forgot to tell me.
“I had plenty of satisfaction. I really enjoyed it. I remember pulling down a wall of afour-story building. It came crashing down on my D-9. My partner screamed at me to reverse, butI let the wall come down on us. We would go for the sides of the buildings, and then ram them. If thejob was to hard, we would ask for a tank shell.
“I couldn’t stop. I wanted to work and work. There was this Golani officer who gave us orders byradio – I drove him mad. I kept begging for more and more missions. On Sunday, after the fightingwas over, we got orders to pull our D-9’s out of the area, and stop working on our ‘footballstadium’, because the army didn’t want the cameras and press to see us working. I was reallyupset, because I had plans to knock down the big sign at the entrance of Jenin – three poles with apicture of Arafat. But on Sunday, they pulled us away before I had time to do it.
“I bitched them to give me more work. I would tell them, over the radio: ‘Why are you letting merest? I want more work!’ All this time, I was really sick. I had fever. I got back from Jenin wipedout. Torn to bits. The next day, I went up again. One of the guys was ill, and I volunteered tohelp. I got back there. The battalion-commander was in shock when he saw me. The otheroperators all cracked up and needed rest, but I refused to leave. I wanted more.
“I had lots of satisfaction in Jenin, lots of satisfaction. It was like getting all the 18 yearsof doing nothing – into three days. The soldiers came up to me and said: ‘Kurdi, thanks a lot.Thanks a lot’. And I hurt for the Thirteen (5) . If we had moved into the building where they wereambushed, we would have buried all those Palestinians alive.
” I kept thinking of our soldiers. I didn’t feel sorry for all those Palestinians who were lefthomeless. I just felt sorry for their children, who were not guilty. There was one woundedchild, who was shot by Arabs. A Golani paramedic came down and changed his bandages, till he wasevacuated. We took care of them, of the children. The soldiers gave them candy. But I had nomercy for the parents of these children.
I remembered the picture on television, of the mother who said she will bear children so thatthey will explode in Tel Aviv. I asked the Palestinian women I saw there: ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’
“After I finished the work, I got out of the bulldozer, piled up some clothes on the side of theroad, and fell asleep. They looked after me, so that I won’t get run over by a tank or something.All the fatigue of the past 75 hours just landed on me. There was a lot of excitement in what I did.The fact that I did a good job operating the bulldozer, the soldiers who came to me, after it wasall over, and said: ‘thank you’. This was enough for me. I miss them. I’ve invited all of them forKubeh at my place. Their commander, Kobi, the one I worked with throughout the 75 hours, wasamazed by the invitation.
‘Do you want the entire company to come over to your house?’
I told him: ‘As far as I am concerned, bring the whole battalion.’
I phoned my mother, from the D-9, and told her that the whole battalion was coming. She said: ‘nosweat’. I am waiting for them”.
Politics
“I know many people will think that my attitude stems from me being a ‘Beitar’ and ‘Likud’member (6) . It is true. I am heavily on the right. But this has nothing to do with what I have donein Jenin. I have many Arab friends. And I say, if a man has done nothing – don’t touch him. A man whohas done something – hang him, as far as I am concerned. Even a pregnant woman – shoot her withoutmercy, if she has a terrorist behind her. This is the way I thought in Jenin. I answered to no one.Didn’t give a damn. The main thing was to help our soldiers. If I had been given three weeks, Iwould have had more fun. That is, If they would let me tear the whole camp down. I have no mercy.
“All the human rights organizations and the UN that messed with Jenin, and turned what we havedone there into such an issue, are just bullshitting, lying. Lots of the walls in those housesjust exploded by themselves, at our slightest touch. It is true, though, that during the lastdays we smashed the camp. And yes, it was justified. They mowed our soldiers down. They had achance to surrender.
“No one expressed any reservations against doing it. Not only me. Who would dare speak? Ifanyone would as much as open his mouth, I would have buried him under the D-9. This is the reason Ididn’t mind seeing the hundred by hundred (7) we’ve flattened. As far as I am concerned, I leftthem with a football stadium, so they can play. This was our gift to the camp. Better thankilling them. They will sit quietly. Jenin will not return to what it use to be.”
Epilog
Two days after getting out of Jenin, ‘Kurdi Bear’ was admitted into hospital, suffering frompneumonia. As it turned out, the 75 straight hours in the D-9 took their toll. Some days after hehad returned home, a phone call woke him up in the middle of the night.
“I got home one night, and for some reason, I couldn’t sleep. I was uncomfortable.
Till 4 AM I just wandered about, suddenly the phone rings: ‘Are you Nati’s father?’
I sked what happened. ‘Get over here, to the hospital.’ ‘Tell me the truth’ I told her.
‘I must know’. She said that: ‘Things are not good. Come’. I speeded to Tel Hashomer hospital. Anurse and a social worker waited for me there. They wanted to tell me that my son had died. That hecame in, dead already. Finished. Serious brain damage. They had planned to ask me to donate hisorgans.
“Suddenly she ran to the surgery, came back and said that they drained blood from his brain, andthat she hopes he will survive. We will know within 72 hours. We hurried to get an amulet fromRabbi Caduri. It helped with the Beitar team, when we almost dropped to a lower league. OnFriday, they called us back to the hospital. They were in shock: The kid just tore therespiration tubes off. He woke up.”
20 year old Nati Nissim is lying on a bed, in the fifth floor of the Beit Levinstein hospital,draped from head to toe in the black-yellow uniform of the Beitar football team. “Daddy,” hesays suddenly “Don’t forget. I need to get to the semi finals.” Kurdi Bear, with a bristly chinand red eyes, freezes for a second, and tries to get his son back into reality. “Nati”, he sayssoftly, “I’ve already told you, Beitar has lost.”
Nati laughs. “No way! I am going to the match!” he says and tries to get up. The father suppresseshis frustration, gives up the struggle. The accident has caused the son to lose his short-termmemory. Just like in the movie “Momento”, he can recall, with astonishing precision, anyBeitar goal going ten years back or even more, but forgets within minutes who he is talkingwith. “Why am I here?” he asks his parents again and again, and bows his head with embarrassmentwhen an acquaintance reminds him of a conversation they had just the day before.
Kurdi sits in the ward and tries to look as optimistic as possible. The doctors are talkingabout a lengthy recovery process. They say that there is no telling if and when Nati’s memorywill return to normal. The financial situation is not brieither. He and his wife, Ronit, canhardly buy gas for his battered Subaru that tries to make the journey from the Castelneighborhood to the hospital. Kurdi wants to build himself a tent in front of the hospital. Forthe time being, he sleeps in the car.
“Jenin has strengthened me,” he says. “It helped me forget my troubles. I had hoped it would besome turning point, until this hit me. But what happened to Nati taught me what really isimportant. I am living now for my son. The rest is really not important.”
The friends from his reserves unit are helping him.
“He stood up when it really counted. He was there, in the most trying moment”, says Haim Tamam, asoldier serving with him. “No one has functioned like he has. And I don’t know if any of us couldgo through the nightmare he went through without putting a bullet through his head. We are allamazed by him.”
Yeffet Damti, his bulldozer partner from Jenin, says that one thing is certain: “On the nextmission, I am only going with Kurdi”.
Kurdi, for his part, thanks his commanders that gave him the chance.
For the time being, they are wrapping him with attention and sympathy. They came here, to thehospital, just to be with him. Just so he won’t be lonely. They are talking about raising fundsto help him. When they meet him next to his son’s bed, back come the memories from those 75 hours.
The chats around the son’s bed continue till the management of the hospital called and beggedthem to stop bragging about destroying Jenin. There are Arab therapists who might be hurt, andone of the Arab patients has already complained.
GUSH SHALOM COMMENTS:
This is the incredible, self-told Story of Moshe Nissim, a fanatic football fan
and a permanent troublemaker, who begged his commanders in the reserves unit for a chance totake part in “the action”.
By “action” he was referring to the wide scale destruction carried out by the Israeli army inmany Palestinian locations, especially in the Jenin Refugee camp.
He was sent into Jenin, riding a 60 ton demolition bulldozer – and equipped with 16 years ofpent-up personal frustration, plenty of whisky and only two hours of training on that armoredtool.
“Enough training to drive forwards and make a flat surface”, as he himself testifies in theinterview.
His story may be extreme, and this man must answer to many serious questions, but Moshe Nissimis not much different from thousands of other frustrated and violent football fans, whoterrorize cities in Europe after a football match.
But then again, Of course, it is unconceivable, that the British army would send a drunken andfrustrated Manchester fan into Belfast riding a D-9 bulldozer.
Therefore, the really troubling questions must be directed at the system that sent him intoJenin on this mission of destruction. This system is the Israeli army.
1 – What kind of army puts a 60 ton, multi-million dollar demolishing bulldozer in thehands of such a person, who has not operated one before?
2 – How could his rampage go on, without being stopped by any of the officers, at any rank?
3 – How can such an army insist it is the “most moral army in the world”?
4 – Does this interview shed more light on Israel’s refusal to have it’s actions in Jenininvestigated?
5 – What did happen in Jenin?
We hope that after reading this sickening interview, you will find ways of sending thesequestions, and others you might have, to the Israeli government through it’s ambassadors, tothe Israeli army, who, we are sure, will not tolerate it’s fine tools being used in such a brutaland unlawful manner.
Notes:
1 .”Bear” is the army code for the D-9 bulldozers. Kurdi means a person of Kurdish origin.
2 . In Israel, men are recruited at the age of 18 for 3 years of obligatory military service. After being released, at the age of 21, they enter the reserve corps. The reserve duty usually demands 30 days of service each year, till the age of 45.
3 . In January 2001, a building in Jerusalem collapsed during a wedding in a hall named Versailles. Some 25 people were killed.
4 . The D-9 actually weighs 48.7 tons, without Armor. The armor brings the weight closer to 60 tons.
5 . The operator is referring to the day in which 13 Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian fighters in an ambush in Jenin.
6 . Two right-wing movements. Beitar, the youth movement, is more nationalistic. Likud is the major right-wing party.
7 . This is the size, in meters, of the part of the camp that was totally demolished.